Attacking allies after a defeat is definitely a cunning ploy

Trump is blaming Preibus, Ryan, the Freedom Caucus, and pretty much everyone but himself for the Â healthcare defeat. I suppose we should be happy he’s so politically illiterate that he thinks Congress simply needs to bow down to him. Politics doesn’t work that way. A determined minority can often punch way above its weight.

So now, rather than ponder what mistakes he made and try to fix them, Trump instead is attacking allies and people whose help he will need. Trump has no experience in politics. Running what essentially is a small family business does not prepare one for the knock-down combat that is DC politics.

On Friday evening, a somewhat shellshocked president retreated to the White House residence to grieve and assign blame. In a search for scapegoats, he asked his advisers repeatedly: Whose fault was this?

Increasingly, that blame has fallen on Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, who coordinated initial legislative strategy on the health care bill with Mr. Ryan, his close friend and a fellow Wisconsinite, according to three people briefed on the president’s recent discussions.

Despite the public displays of unity with the speaker, Mr. Trump and his team now regret outsourcing so much of the early drafting to Mr. Ryan.